Improved oar-coupling



1 H. MOODY.

Patented March 9,1869.

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"din tal fittest gaunt Mama . HENRY T; MOODY, or NEWB'URYPORT,MASSACHUSETTS.

' Letters Patent No. 87,582 dated Ma/rch 9, 1869. I I

IMPROVED CAR-COUPLING.

. V I q 7 V The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent' and makingpart of the aame.-

To all whom it concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY T. MOODY, of N ewburyport, in the county ofEssex, and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements inGar-Couplings; and do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure 1 is a transverse sectional view of myinvention.

Figure 2 is a plan View.

gBoth these figures show the coupling as shackled.) F

igurev3is a view of the link detached from the coupling. The object ofmy invention is to produce a car-coupling, which will enable twocars tobe shackled without attention, that is, in a measure, act automatically,and

which shall be simple in construction, strong and inexpensive, and whichwill allow of using the ordinary link, if it is desired, without changeor modification;

also to give a coupling which will operate without the use of springs inany form, as springs, no matter how they maybe adjusted, inacar-coupling where great strength is needed, are always objectionable,for many obvious reasons, such as liability of loss of elasticity,

' of breaking, 8220. 1 a

The nature of my invention consists in the use of draw-l1ead s,fiaringattheir m outh, one with a weighted tongue, for holding theshackle-pin,the ,other, holding the shackle-link,'the link being kept in nearly ahorizontal position, by its length projecting into a chamber within thedraw-heath'and prevented from too much side motionby a rubber bearing.

"In the drawings-- A represents a coupling-box, or draw-head, havingchamber B, which maybe more or less extended. The mouth of thebox'flares at a b. This box A' is used fon one car.

A is a coupling-box, or draw-head, for use on the car opposite the oneusing draw-head A has recess. or chamber B.

D and D are pins'for'shackling.

E is a link, of form'shown, having elongation E and hole (I, for thereception of pin D.,

a is a shoulder on the lower side of the link E, and surrounding hole d.i v

14 is a shoulder, coming up from the lower side of A.

The object of shoulder F and a is to assist in preserving a horizontalposition to the link E, when the coupling is unshacklcd.

1%. is a rubber bearing, placed upon E, when it extends into innerrecess B. p

The object of rubber R is to prevent too much lateral motion of thelink, and assisting to preserve a straight horizontal positionof link E,that it may the more readily find, in shackling cars, the mouth of thecoupling-box of the opposite car. 7

H is a'tongue or arm, curved in form, from rear of the recess B towardthefront and upper side a.

This arm-H has a weight at I.

The arm is hung, at p, upon a pin running from side to side of the caseof the draw-head. I

When the shackling-pin D is'withdrawn, as shown bythe red lines D, thearm H, by-the force of weight I, falls forward, and with its forwardpointcovers the hole m, in the position shown by red line H. .Thus thepin D may rest upon arm H. Now, when the linkE,

when two cars are coming together, finds the mouth a, b of coupling-boxor draw-head A, and strikes the front of the curve of arm H, at oncepushing it'back, withdrawing the same from under the pin D, and allowingthe pin D to fall to its position through the link E, the cars arefirmly shackled.

If it ,is desired, the ordinary link maybe used, instead of the one Ihave shown. This would only be necessary while cars were undergoing achange of couplings, and some were provided with my improved coupling,

and others were not or in case the carsof one line,

provided with this coupling, were in temporary use upon another lin itcan easily be used without modi- The operation, then, of my invention issimple, and as follows:

The pin D being left up, and held by arm H, the link of the approachingcar finds the mouth of the drawhead, and, pushing back -H, lets D fallto its place, thus automatically shackling the cars, and overcoming themany objections to the ordinary methods."

Having thus fully described my invention, What I claim as new, anddesire to -securejbyLetters Patent, is-

The combination of link E and tongue 5i arm H,

witnesses.

. HENRY T. MOODY \Yitnesses OARROLDD. WRIGHT, W. H; BOYNTON.

